


If I Were You Then I'd Stop Talking 'Cause Soon You'll Be A Dead Man Walking

by ElizabethDionne



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Hawkeye (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 07:00:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19057609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizabethDionne/pseuds/ElizabethDionne
Summary: This isn't necessarily my first time writing for Marvel, but this is however my first actually editing it and getting it up to the quality it needs to be at to be posted. I'm also not a comic nerd for Marvel, unlike DC, so I'm sorry if it's too OOC. Enjoy.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't necessarily my first time writing for Marvel, but this is however my first actually editing it and getting it up to the quality it needs to be at to be posted. I'm also not a comic nerd for Marvel, unlike DC, so I'm sorry if it's too OOC. Enjoy.

“She got away!” Bucky growled into the earpiece, punching the wall in frustration.

“What do you mean she got away?!”Fury demands, pure frustration flowing through him.

“I mean, she got away from me. I failed in capturing her. She got away!” Bucky yells, Spiderman laughing in the background at the situation. It’d be even better if he was at Soup.

“You’re an assassin and she’s a teenager! How the hell did you manage to fuck this up!” Spiderman's laughter in the background grows.

“Shut the fuck up right now!” It’s distant, and Fury can just make out the screaming of Peter as he no doubt tries to escape Bucky’s wrath.

Fury hangs up the phone and rubs his face.

“God, I wish Tony was here.”

 

 

 

“So what’s the name?” I ask, pen poised above the cup and ready to write.

“Bucky Barnes. And I’m afraid you’ll be coming with me.” He reaches over the counter and grabs my wrist tightly, sticking a handcuff on it while I gape in shock.

“I didn’t do anything! I swear!” I exclaim, struggling against his grip as his metal hand reaches for my other wrist.

“Actually, that’s what we’ll be discussing. Now move.” People in the store had their phones out recording instead of helping and I could feel the embarrassment red hot on my cheeks.

He guides me out of the store and to a car waiting on the side of the street. Seeing my opportunity, I take it, headbutting him as he tries to push me into the backseat. His hand lets go of me and flies to his nose as he clings to the car door. Wasting no time, I run as fast as I can down the street, shoving confused bystanders out of the way, survival mode turned on as Bucky easily catches up to me with the super soldier serum injected into his veins. He may be quick, but I’m agile.

Bucky grabs my hair and yanks me down to the ground hard. He leans over me and lowers his mouth to my ear.

“Don’t you fucking move.”He growls in my ear.

Rolling my eyes, I kick my legs up, connecting with his gut and loosening his grip on my hair. Not enough but fuck it. Swinging myself up, I wrap my still handcuffed arms around his neck and flip him over me, succeeding in getting his grip off of me for the moment and giving me time to run.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I don’t want to hurt you.” Or not.

“Who said you’d be hurting me, spider?” I ask, stalking up to him and getting close.

Using his momentary shock to my advantage, I hop up- getting my hands in front of me and climbing the side of the building behind him, using holes in the bricks as grips.

“Well boys, I wish I could say it’s been fun. But that would be lying.” I’m lying.

I run across the buildings roof and hop across to the next one, and then the next, and the next, and so on, until finally jumping down into an alley and pulling the pliers from my pocket. It’s a good thing I have them. I cut the handcuffs apart then stick my hands into my hoodie pocket so no one sees the broken apart pieces hanging off my wrists as I merge back into the cities traffic.


	2. I Will Fly With No Hope, No Fear

“Ren, are you even listening to me?” My mom snaps me out of my daze and I look away guiltily.

“Yeah… no.” I say, and her sigh hurts more than her beating me.

“I was saying that you’re being sent to live with you father while I get help. It’s for the best. Now go pack your stuff so you’ll be ready when he picks you up.” She hugs me, ignoring my flinch and at least having the decency to look or at least seem sad about this. I didn’t bother hiding what I was feeling. She stopped being able to hurt me long ago.

The smile spreads on my face as I walk to my room and shut the door,  popping up one of the boxes that she gave me for the few stuff I have. It’s cheap stuff, stolen from gas stations and drugstores. There’s enough in New York that I’ll probably never have to go the same one ever again.

The only real expensive thing I have sits under the loose floorboard beneath my bed, too important for my mother to find and sell for money to fund her drug and booze addictions. It’s an autographed avengers poster, signed by the men and women themselves. They used to inspire me to be better than myself, to be more than what society told me I could be. Until I realized that life isn’t a fairy tale. It’s not a Disney movie and you don’t get your happy ever after after all.

It takes one box to pack away all the stuff that I haven’t hidden from mom and that’s what I move onto next, removing a floorboard in the corner of my room and pulling the ornate jewelry box out. It’s the only things we have left of my grandma and mom selling it was not an option. Various things follow, mostly things that my dad bought me after finding out he had me, opting for joint custody instead of child support. Now I guess he’s getting full custody. Out of the two, I would choose neither. My mom sees me as a burden and dad sees me as a responsibility. I’d be better off alone.

The last thing to go in the box is the poster, not pilfered from someone's house actually. I fought during the alien invasion, my mutations coming in handy as I faced off against hordes of the creatures. When it was over I’d approached them and held up the poster for them to sign, and despite being tired and hurt and bloody, they’d signed it with a smile on their faces. Best day of my life until my dad came to get me. Then it got a little nasty.

“Ren, your dad’s car is here.” My mom knocked on the door before speaking and I got up, replacing the various floorboards and opening the door. “I’ll help you with your stuff.”

I nod, picking up the box that I had just finished packing and carrying it out the house to my dads car.

“Hey sweetheart.” He wheels his chair over to me and I smile, setting the box in the trunk before bending down to hug him.

“Xavier.” My mom says stiffly, sticking her hand out for him to shake. He takes it apprehensively.

“Molly.” He says, warmth evident in his voice and I almost throw up. How does he do it?

“If you wouldn’t mind, could I speak to you privately? There’s something we need to discuss.” My mom nods and I take it as my cue to leave seeing as there is no wheelchair ramp on the house and I have a few more boxes to get.

“Ren. Would you like some help?” Hank asks, walking towards me.

“Sure.” I say, smiling a little as I lead him up the steps and into the house.

My house isn’t trashed like the TV version of an addicts house, but it’s not in amazing condition. And he seems to sense my apprehensiveness taking him inside.

“I won’t judge.” Nodding, I open the door and walk towards the back of the first floor where my room is.

“I’ll get these two boxes and you get that one then we’ll be done.” Nodding again. Words don’t come too easy around Hank.

“No. Absolutely not. Not happening.” My mom is saying- rather loudly- outside when me and Hank get back to the car.

“You don’t have a choice.” He’s never sounded so cold. Except for maybe when he was talking to the Avengers.

“Fuck that. She’s my daughter. I’ve been in her life so much longer and you think you can waltz in and take her from me. No. No way.” She spits out, and I’m smart enough to infer what they’re arguing about.

“We’ll talk about this more after.” He dismisses her easily, pushing himself to passenger seat and climbing in.

“Bye mom.” I hug her, against my will, and try to look sad for her sake. But lying isn’t in my nature.

“Bye sweetheart. I’ll see you soon. Love you.” She mumbles into my hair, pressing a kiss to my forehead as tears start to stream down her face.

“I love you to.” The words come out strained, and if she noticed than she doesn’t show it.

Shutting the trunk and getting in the back seat of the car is like slamming the door on an unwanted visitor. It’s cathartic, and I know my dad can hear my thoughts and relief at this, but I don’t care right now. Years of abuse from her and lashing out at everyone until finally it caught the attention of the school and the police investigated. And to think that all it took was stitches around my eye in the shape of a broken beer bottle before the system finally cared.

“I know you have full custody of me. And I also know that you know I know. I just needed to say it out loud to believe. I still can’t believe it.” I mumble, the mental exhaustion taking its toll on me.

  


I awake when the car comes to a sudden stop, shaking the sleep from my eyes when I see the armored cars blocking the road and the police in riot gear standing behind those.

“What’s going on?” I ask, fear overtaking me and saturating the vehicle.

“Ren, honey, you have to calm down. Nothing's wrong. Some people wanted to have a chat before we leave. That’s all.” It helps, a little. The fear calms but the anxiety almost seems to worsen.

“O-okay. It’s about…” I trail off, not needing to finish the sentence because he’ll know anyways, even if I lie.

“Yes. C’mon now. I presume they want us to get out of the car and go with them.” I swallow thickly, and open the car door with a shaky hand.

I grab the wheelchair from beside me and hold it steady while my dad gets into it.

“Xavier. Tiny Xavier. Dr.” I can’t help the laugh that comes out quietly, effectively killing the fear in me.

“We need to have a chat. If you wouldn’t mind coming with us.” It’s back again.

“Of course. As long as our car gets transported to wherever we are, of course.” Dad says casually, and I follow behind him and Hank as they walk towards the roadblock and the very intimidating men who had moved to stand in front of the vehicles.

I do my best to control my fear, trying to exude confidence like my father, but it’s not as easy for me. My mutations are emotion manipulation- more specifically fear. I can control it in others but not quite in myself. So trying to get rid of it would be my equivalent of a normal person trying to ignore their flight or fight response.

“If you’ll please hand over the keys to your car, we’ll have someone follow behind us in it.” The man with the eye patch says and I find myself scared of him. I’ve faced down literal aliens before with no hesitation and this is what trips me up.

“Of course. Hank, if you will,” my dad says, and Hank hands the keys to the Mr. Eye patch.

They load us onto an armored car, providing a ramp for dad to roll himself up. There are no seat belts

A blonde haired man and a man wearing what seems like twenty layers of clothing sit inside the car with us, most likely to make sure that the dangerous mutants don’t do anything. The one in many layers stares me down, his gaze unflinching and he never blinks. I stare right back, trying to seem intimidating but judging by the way he quietly snorts, it’s not working.

“So what’s your name, ma’am?” The blond one asks.

“Ren. What’s yours?” He probably already knows my name, but I tell him anyways. I feel like I can trust him if anything happens and I want him to know it. After all, gaining my trust is most likely why he asked.

“Steve Rogers. My friend here is Bucky Barnes.” He introduces himself and his friend. It dawns on me why he’s wearing a jacket and gloves now.

“You don’t scare me, if that’s what you were wondering.” I say, leaning my head back against the wall and closing my eyes.

“That’s not what he was wondering. He was thinking about how fast he could kill you if he needed to.” My dad cuts in, frowning at Bucky.

The tension in the vehicle grows and I force myself to keep ahold of my emotions.

“Stay out of my head,” Bucky growls at my dad and he raises himself off the seat the slightest bit.

The electricity crackles around my hands as I prepare myself to have to defend my dad. He can take care of himself, but it’s still a matter of principle.

“Calm down Ren. I have this handled.” My dad says calmly, and Hank puts his hand on my shoulder, settling me down.

“So where are we going?” I ask.

“We’re going to go meet the rest of the Avengers.” Steve says, and my mood instantly shifts from pissed off to ‘I GET TO MEET THE AVENGERS!’.

“Do you experience mood swings often?” He asks with an amused smile plastered on his face.

“Only when I get to meet the some of the coolest people in the world!” I say excitedly and Steve’s smile seems to get bigger.

The mood in the car shift drastically. The majority is happy but there’s still an unidentifiable dark spot. It’s like no matter what this person's default is pissed and angsty. It’s honestly bringing myself down, despite my hardest efforts to not let it. Being an empath really sucks.

The car falls into silence, not quite uncomfortable but not exactly nice either. Boredom ensues, and me and Hank promptly start a rather intense game of rock-paper-scissors, the both of us quietly exclaiming when the other loses. The level of amusement goes up and my emotions seem to balance themselves out with the others.

Time seems to pass quick, almost too quick, before we’re stopping and the back of the door is opening.

“We’re here.” My dad doesn’t look the least bit happy, and I frown.

“If you’ll follow me.” The eye patch man leads us towards a huge building after everyone’s out.

“My name is Nick Fury. I’m the head of Shield. We need to have a talk with the Avengers before we allow you to leave New York city.” I gulp, nervous as all hell, and it starts to show with the blue and whites crackles that occasionally run across my skin as I lose control over my powers.

We get to a set of double doors and Fury holds one of them open for us. Inside is the scariest thing I’ve seen in the world- all the Avengers, staring straight into my soul. The control slips away for just a second and the electricity buzzes on my right hand, threatening to escape onto the next thing I touch. Everyone tenses and Black Widow draws her gun on me, not helping the issue any.

I quickly shove my hands into my pockets, feeling the tingling as the electricity diffuses through my clothes and into my skin.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let them hurt you.” Someone whispers into my ear, and I faintly realize it’s Hank.

“I’ll be fine. I think. Just need to get myself back under control.” I say to him, looking at him for a brief moment before turning back to everyone in the room.

“Put the gun down Romanoff. She’s not a threat.” Fury says, closing the door securely after him.

“For now. You saw the same as us what she did. How powerful she is. She could be a threat and that’s all that matters.” Fear rises up in my chest and my dad glances at me, trying to comfort me.

“Yeah. For all we know, the three of them could be planning to kill us right now and we would be none the wiser.” Hawkeye says, looking at me then my dad and finally Hank, questioning his presence a little.

“Quiet down. We’re not going to discuss that. Yet. We’re going to talk about this,” Fury plays a video on the screen.

It’s a little fuzzy- a traffic cam. But the date reads the exact same as the day that the aliens attacked. And it’s me, using my electricity to kill the Chitauri and my control over emotion to steer civilians to safety.

“You were there. When the aliens attacked. And you seemed to hold your own pretty well, in fact-” Fury gets interrupted by my dad who has a glare on his face.

“Where are you going with this?” My dad asks Fury instead of using his powers.

“I want your daughter to join the Avengers. She was there when the attack first started and managed to defend herself and evacuate civilians at the same time. We could use her.” Fury says and a broad range of emotions shoot through the room and straight for me.

I groan a little, the pain of feeling so much getting tougher to ignore.

“You’re saying that you want my daughter to be an Avenger. Fuck that. And fuck you. She will never be one of you. Never.” My dad laughs almost hysterically.

“She’s going to be 18 in a year. Then you’ll have no control over what she does. And my offer will still stand.” Fury says amid the yelling of people voicing their concern and disdain over the idea.

It gets to be too much and I double over in pain, the growing fear mixing with the emotions of everyone else, ranging from acceptance to murder, swirling together inside of me and forming a dangerous concoction.

“Hey, Ren, are you okay?” Hank grabs me as I fall over.

“I-I can’t breathe. I need fresh air. I need to get out of here.” I say in a panic, pulling myself out of his grip and clawing at the door handle to get it open. I rush out of the room and through the hallways, almost getting lost as I try to remember the way out. But I make it out, in time too, as I rip my hands out of my jacket pockets and fall to the ground, placing them flat on the ground as the panic attack ensues, electricity coursing out of my hands.

Footsteps approach behind me and shouting follows after.

“Don’t touch her!” My dad shouts, right before there's a hand on my shoulder. And then the energy is being redirected into their body.

I shout in pain, whoever touched me literally sucking the energy right out of me and into them self. It’s excruciating, and I can only imagine how they feel. When it’s all gone, the person thumps to the ground and I roll over the see Steve lying on the ground, smoke trailing off of him.

“Oh no,” I whisper, clasping a hand to my mouth as others come out of the compound and have mostly the same reactions.

“What have you done?” Bucky asks quietly at first, then shouting it again. “What have you done!”

Tears leak out of my eyes, and I try and stifle the sobs threatening to come out.

“I’m going to kill you.” Bucky whispers, and the fear courses through me again.

He runs at me and I lunge up, running away as fast from him as I can. Which in my current state, isn’t very fast. He catches up to me, grabbing my by the hair and yanking me backwards onto the ground.

He stands over me and places his metal hand on my throat, squeezing tightly. I pry at his fingers, trying to get them looser, but it’s no use. My energy is all gone and Hank won’t get here in time to help me. I’m going to die and there’s nothing I can do about it.

“Let go of her.” My dad says, and Bucky releases me. “Now get away from.” He complies, stepping away from me as I gasp for breath, my throat purple and red and swollen. Trying to breath feels like there’s something covering my nose and the air isn’t getting through. I guess that means that he crushed my windpipe. So even though my dad saved me, I’m going to die in about thirty seconds.

My vision gets fuzzy, black spots floating in and out of view and everything turning into colored blobs. Sounds of a fight ensues in the background.

“This might hurt a little. I’m sorry in advance.” A blob appears in my vision and after they speak, and then there's a sharp pain above my collarbones, and I can breathe again. Albeit feeling strange.

Despite the return of breathing, the black spots collect more until I’ve passed out. The last thing I see is a face coming into focus. One that's very familiar. Steve.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken forever to get this chapter out. I forgot about band camp this week and thought that I would have time during our lunch break or when I got home afterwords but that was not the case. Luckily there's one day left and then the rodeo parade Saturday. After that is my summer vacation. So starting next week I should have consistent updates for all my unfinished stories on here.

**Author's Note:**

> Remember to leave kudos if you liked it and a comment telling me what you thought of it. I love reader feedback- good and bad!


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